The Moloko — Restaurant in Ipswich

Latest Review: I usually like to update my reviews once I’ve given a place a second visit; after all flukes do happen possible. We were quite exited to eat here again after our very positive first experience, but unfortunately this does happen to be one of those cases: Moloko has not measured up the second time around.

We were the first of two tables that we saw done at the restaurant. It was not crowded at all.

Firstly when we made our drink order, one of our party did not receive her drink. It took over half an hour for her to get her cola.

Once it arrived , one of our party found hair in her food. Another didn’t receive the vegetables listed on the menu along with her main. The dish was taken away, and once it came back (after a long while), it was paired with cold vegetables on the side. Finally a third of our party ordered extra potatoes, and didn’t receive them at all. Out of four people served, three had issues with their meals.

This is a big, big drop in quality over the last time. Moloko clearly has a consistency issue. Whilst the food with the hair was taken off of the bill, it’s impossible to ignore the overall drop in quality.

Unfortunately for the price of the food a consistently positive experience is expected. 1:2 meals of quality is insufficient for the price we were charged. I will likely not come here again.

You can read my previous review below, but following this second experience I no longer believe it conveys a realistic portrayal of Moloko.

Previous Review:

The dishes I had the fortune to try were the lamb rump, and the chicken supreme. Each dish was superb - the lamb was perfect, and the chicken supreme creamy and delicious.

For a place we ended up at by accident, The Moloko turned out to be a bit of a hidden gem. Will definitely look to eat...

On the 6th of June I booked a table for 6 people for my birthday on the 10th of July. Bearing in mind this wasn’t a last minute reservation. We arrived at 2pm to be told to stand in the corner to wait for a table. After 10 minutes no one had approached us asked if we would like a drinks while we wait etc!! I had to ask at the bar staff what’s going on and actually ask for a drink.

After 20mins we were taken to the garden and sat at a patio set. I said to the gentlemen you can’t be serious we can’t sit here and eat it’s not a table I said it would be fine if we were there for drinks but not appropriate to eat at. I was told he didn’t have a table and would see what he could do. Bearing in mind this was booked on 6th of June we didn’t just turn up and expect to get a table. I asked the gentleman if we could have drinks which eventually turned up after me going to the bar to check on them again while we were sitting and waiting on the patio set.

After 45mins we decided this is absolutely not acceptable and ridiculous behaviour and we were just left so we decided to leave. On the way out I see the manager Zoe and I said you can cancel our booking this just isn’t acceptable. Zoe didn’t even apologise and basically ignored me.

I would not recommend this place they are very unprofessional and clearly need to improve on their customer service and need to prioritise the booking system instead of people just turning up on the day and taking tables...

The place is nice, it has a very welcoming area in the open air and it has A LOT OF potential. The interior design is very nice.

Pros: The "Pimientos del Padrón", "Chorizo y Pimiento", "Calamares Fritos", "Pintxos de barriga de cerdo (crispy pork belly)" and the "Croquetas de Jamón Serrano" were very good, of a very good quality and HIGHLY recommended! I must definitely try some other traditional dishes... :)

Cons: The waiter didn't know the names of the dishes and the general service and support was very poor; The Drinks menu was not available, no sangria was available and the waiter wasn't too sure about the drinks available (in a bar?!?!) Portions are extremely small (£6.95 for only 2 croquetas and £7.95 for 3 VERY small pieces of pork are very high prices in my opinion) I wish no Spanish person will ever try the Tortilla de Patatas. It can perhaps be acceptable for someone who doesn't know how a tortilla is supposed to be but THAT ONE IS NOT A TORTILLA. Score 0/10 - Sorry. The place is too loud - no good sound attenuation;

As it was their first week, I appreciate that not everything was up to speed as supposed to and I am thefore more than open to visit the place again to see the...